The Chicago Bears and Darnell Wright agreed to a four-year, $116M extension that will average out to $29M per year. The deal includes $93M in guaranteed money. It is the second-most amongst any tackle in average annual value, and it is the most guaranteed money amongst any tackle.Â
The Bears might have made sure to get the deal done by sweetening the deal, but they cannot be mad that their All-Pro right tackle is locked down.Â
Chicago Bears extend Darnell Wright
The biggest sticking point in the Wright negotiations was whether he would go for being the highest-paid right tackle or the highest-paid overall tackle. Penei Sewell and Tristan Wirfs were complicating matters with their deals.Â
They signed extensions as right tackles, but the two are currently playing left tackle. So, technically, the highest-paid right tackle is only making is only making $25M per year, and that is Lane Johnson. The most guaranteed money for a current right tackle was $65.7M for Brian O’Neil.Â
Those concerned with the O’Neil deal impacting the Wright negotiations probably feel foolish to know that Wright beat O’Neil by $5M per year on average and nearly $30M more in guarantees. O’Neil did not set any bar for Wright that he was not going to clear already.Â
The deal also easily cleared Wirfs and Sewell, so their positions did not matter. Wirfs made $28.125M per year and had $88M in guarantees. Whether he was a right tackle or not at the time does not matter. Wright was being compared with all tackles when he signed this deal.Â
This deal just topped Rashawn Slater, who was a left tackle that signed his deal after Sewell and Wirfs. Slater is making $28.5M per year and signed for $92M in guarantees. This is what the deal should be most compared to because Wright just got slight upticks from both salary slots.Â
Laremy Tunsil still has the most on a per-year basis. He is making $30.1M per year. However, that is only on a two-year deal. So, while the whole thing is guaranteed, it is not quite the guaranteed money that Wright is dealing with.Â
The short-term nature of the deal is also likely why Wright did not fuss about topping that salary figure. As far as a long-term deal by any tackle, regardless of side, this is the top of the market. The Bears did right by Wright.
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